"Purple?" She tilted her head slightly to one side in a slow curious movement, as she looked down at the small me standing right there in front of her.
Her whole expression was showing clear confusion that was mixed together with a good amount of curiosity shining in her eyes.
"What part of me is purple, exactly? I do not see any purple color on myself, no matter how hard I look right now."
"No, not the color of you in any literal or physical way," I explained patiently while looking straight up at her with steady and focused eyes. "In these few days I've spent here inside this sealed space, I've learned many different things about you through watching and listening.
"Some of which are heinous and pretty dark, I won't lie, but some of which are... full of real elegance and deep remembrance, and a kind of love that seems to run very deep inside you even if you possibly don't always show it openly..."
She giggled a little, the soft sound coming out light and genuinely surprised as it left her mouth and filled the space between us, "What...? Do you even know anything about me beyond the surface level that anyone can see?"
"I know you're my mama!"
"Stop that right now, I'm warning you!" She replied sharply and immediately, though there was no real heavy anger behind the words she used.
I moved back a few steps away from her position, my eyes locked firmly on her face the whole time without looking away even for a second.
"These are the most proper conversations I have had in years with anyone... But when you talk and open up even just a little bit, I can clearly see that you are feeling a strong sense of nostalgia deep down inside.
"You like fun and light moments a lot because you want to create a lot of happy memories that will last for a long time. You are trying your best, and failing in a very obvious way that's easy to notice, to hide it completely from view... to hide that you love and care deeply about things.
"You harbor love inside you, but for what exactly or for who I do not know yet at this point. Or maybe, when you love someone or something very much, you never let go no matter what happens or how difficult it gets. And..."
I flashed her a genuine and real smile right then in that moment, because right then in that exact moment I was truly happy.
And the emotion nullification wasn't doing anything about it at all, not even trying to push the warm feeling away like it usually did with other emotions.
"I am so happy that you are my parent... So powerful and majestic in presence, and elegant in everything you do without even trying hard.
"Shion is the name that came to mind for you naturally, because from only seven days here in this brand new world, I'm already proud of you in a real and honest way that I can't hide."
And this... was the first time I had ever seen Shion blush so much and so deeply like that.
And damn, it was so adorable that I almost couldn't handle looking at it, and I wished I had a camera right there with me to capture the whole moment forever.
Her ears and cheeks burned bright red in a sudden rush, as her mouth and eyes flew open wide in complete and total surprise.
Her hands were raised up quickly in front of her as if to stop my words from hitting and affecting her any further than they already had.
"F-Fine! My new name is Shion from now on, and I accept it!"
She folded her arms across her chest tightly and pouted cutely with her lips pushed out in a very noticeable way, stealing quick little glances at my small self every few seconds.
Like she could not completely stop herself from doing it.
Haha! Like a teenage girl...
...Alright!
The first phase of my plan worked perfectly without any issues: make Shion happy and soften her up nicely before the sudden reveal of the next part that was coming.
"Shion..." I asked her carefully after a short pause to let the previous moment settle. "could you... let me eat you up...?"
"...Eh?" She slowly stared at me with a blank look on her face, that quickly turned into clear confusion as the words sank in. "If you are so starved and in need of food right now, try having your siblings for dinner instead of asking me."
"First, ew, that sounds completely disgusting... and wrong," I began to explain right away while making a scrunched up face to show how I felt. "Second, I don't ACTUALLY want to eat you because I want to know how you taste like."
Uhm... that sounded a bit NSFW when the words actually came out of my mouth.
But thank goodness she seemed innocent in those kinds of matters and didn't pick up on any double meaning that could have made it awkward.
"It sounded a tad immoral and strange, the way you said it just now with those exact words," Shion squinted her eyes at me slightly while continuing to watch my face closely. "But I understand what you actually mean now after thinking about it.
"Normally, a shoggoth can eat anything it can get it mouth on. This is because of a primal pull deep inside it to do so, not because of mere hunger or simply wanting a regular meal."
Oh?
She knows her stuff pretty well and understands way more than I expected her to.
Not like it wasn't Gabriel feeding me my own information, though.
But yeah; I wasn't actually hungry for mature women or anything like that at all in reality.
I discussed it with Shion in more detail for a while after; with the Special Skill [Gluttony], I could store things inside a special imaginary place called "Gluttony's Stomach."
I suppose it's like a 4th-dimensional space or something that exists in another dimension, entirely away from normal reality and perception. Huge stuff, actually.
I wonder if I can put an enemy inside and seize control over their reality there.
It could be my personal hell where no soul is allowed to die there, but suffer as long as they exist inside...
I hope I don't lose my mental humanity; this thought is quite evil.
Back to topic: considering that her sister formerly had this same skill before it came over to me, Shion knew exactly what it was and how it worked from her own past knowledge and experience.
"So you intend to consume me completely and then take yourself out of the seal by carrying me safely inside you the whole time?" She asked me directly, showing clearly that she was understanding the full plan.
But she added right after with a more serious and warning tone in her voice;
"You are truly amazing, Kivuli-Maji. But... you are underestimating Beowulf far too much and do not see the real depth that is hidden here."
I stood still and listened carefully as she explained everything seriously without rushing her words even a little bit.